Into the Void: The new autobiography from Geezer Butler, bassist and lyricist of heavy metal music pioneers Black Sabbath

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Touching the Void is a 1988 book by Joe Simpson, recounting his and Simon Yates's near fatal descent after climbing the 6,344-metre (20,814ft) peak Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Approximately 15% of the book is written by Yates. It has sold over a million copies and has been translated into over 20 languages. [1] Summary [ edit ] In the fall of 2020, Butler told Australia's Wall Of Sound that his book would be "about growing up in Aston, Birmingham and how SABBATH came about." The bassist also reflected on everything he has accomplished in this past half a century, saying: "It's a great achievement to still be relevant 50 years after we recorded our first two albums. We honestly thought we'd last a few years, then be forgotten about. Fifty years ago any form of popular music was seen as a passing fad — people even thought THE BEATLES would be forgotten about after they broke up, but nobody then [realized] how powerful the nostalgia effect would be." Also, what are Twi'Leks and Noghri doing on Tython and all these planets? Isn't this much before interstellar travel? What, did all these cultures come from the SAME system? HUH? I'm struggling between 2 and 3 stars because this didn't really feel like a Star Wars book. It was very dark, which isn't unusual for this series, but I thought it was especially so. A Je'daii needs darkness and light, shadow and illumination, because without the two there can be no balance. Veer to Bogan (the Dark Side), and Ashla (Light Side)feels to constraining, too pure; edge toward Ashla, and Bogan becomes a monstrous myth. A Je'daii without balance between both is no Je'daii at all. He, or she, is simply lost."

This mission seems kind of important, so clearly they should only send one person. Maybe everyone else was busy with a trade dispute on Naboo.In Into the Void, Butler tells his side of the story, from the band’s beginnings as a scrappy blues quartet in Birmingham through the struggles leading to the many well-documented lineup changes while touring around London’s gritty clubs (Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and The Who makes notable appearances!), and the band’s important later years. He writes honestly of his childhood in a working-class family of seven in Luftwaffe-battered Birmingham, his almost-life as an accountant, and how his disillusionment with organized religion and class systems would spawn the lyrics and artistic themes that would resonate so powerfully with fans around the world.

This was a fantastic memoir, I had a great time reading this! It was a very honest and down to earth telling of his early life to current days. As someone born and raised in the West Midlands, I found it very interesting reading about his early life in post-war Birmingham, which were similar experiences I have heard from my own family. He also talked about a lot of paranormal experiences he had with ghosts and premonitions, which was fascinating! Overall I just did not care for this book whatsoever. I won’t give it a 1/10 or 2/10 only because I don’t think it was truly bad, but it was extremely boring and not noteworthy in any way. This is, without a doubt, the weakest Star Wars novel I’ve read thus far by a relatively significant amount. Butler's writing is refreshingly honest and unfiltered, painting a vivid picture of his experiences within the band. From their early struggles to make ends meet, to the pinnacle of global fame, he offers a candid account of the highs and lows they encountered along the way. Moreover, Butler fearlessly delves into his personal life, shedding light on his battles with depression and his unwavering commitment to veganism. The narrative switches between the present where Lanoree is in pursuit of her brother in her current mission and her past training where she and her brother participated together. It's a great way to introduce Dal and find out what his motivations are for his dark pursuits later in his life.

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We are also introduced to a teenage foster kid named Nell who seems to have found a great foster family. The family takes her on a camping trip to the family cabin and things go bad from there. We discover that Nel has the ability to calm people down with a touch, but she is also immune to the call of the green light, and she can break a person's trance if she touches them. Anyway, all that said, not a bad story. Lebbon is a good writer and while the characterization is flat, and the dialogue seems also-ran-ish, I stayed tuned in til the end. The book won the 1989 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature [4] and the 1989 NCR Book Award. At one point, Lanoree pilots her ship "out of Nox's gravity". Only, she just left the atmosphere. Yes, the further you get from the planet, the less the gravity will be, but it hasn't disappeared!

As a writer, he's not especially funny but the sheer absurdity of some of these stories make the book very, very funny at times. It's also fascinating to find exactly what so many of his lyrics (until the Dio era, Geezer wrote almost all the words for Sabbath) were about. And you'll never believe how they began. In fact, if I gave you infinite guesses, you'd never get it. And it's not for the reason you think. And by the way don't swear in a star wars book. he says "Bitch" and "Piss" in the first two chapters, which might not be awful in a PG-13 movie but never have i read a Star Wars book with any kind of bad language at all. they say plenty of other words from tons of other languages in the SW universe.

Yeah, you'd never be able to guess because you'd be going for something new. Also, they use the force and swords and have masters and apprentices. So it's definitely an origin story and not just an exact replication of the jedi we know and love. Ryan: Early on, you learned on an acoustic guitar that had only two strings, writing that it instilled in you a unique melodic style. Did that formative experience impact you later as you moved to the bass? What truly sets Into the Void apart is Butler's unwavering openness and willingness to lay bare his life's triumphs and tribulations. By confronting his mistakes and personal struggles head-on, he becomes a relatable and sympathetic figure, forging an intimate connection with readers on a personal level. What I did find fascinating during this era was the use of technology. No lightsabers or hyperspace.

Things really get hopping when the family arrives at the cabin and has a super nice day before everything goes to hell (almost literally). As the entity begins to entrap family members, Nell discovers that her supernatural ability to calm people by touching them serves to break the hold of the entity over her new family members—but only while she is holding on to them. What follows is the desperate effort of Nell to save these people who were so unexpectedly kind to her while it becomes increasingly obvious that she isn’t going to be able to save them all.

Jason Munoz

And then the bloodbath Lanoree leaves in her wake! I get that Je'daii at this time weren't the pacifistic Jedi in the movies, but Lanoree justifies killing people a lot. A LOT. And her incompetence quite possibly gets a main character killed! (What's worse, that "death" doesn't even serve the purpose of being compelling or heart-wrenching in the least.)